Home Equity Grew by $815 bln in Q1 – Housing Scorecard

ThernU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S.rnDepartment of the Treasury today released the May edition of thernObama Administration’s Housing Scorecard. The scorecard summarizes the current status of the nation’s housing market using datarncollected from a number of sources such as RealtyTrac, S&P/CasernShiller, CoreLogic, National Association of Realtors and the U.S.rnCensus regarding home prices, foreclosures, residential construction,rnand home sales. Most of this data has been previously reported byrnMortgageNewsDaily. </p

“Asrnthe May housing scorecard indicates, the Obama Administration’srnpolicies and actions over the last four years to speed housingrnrecovery are continuing to show important signs of progress,” saidrnHUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs Kurt Usowski. “Inrnthe first quarter of 2013, homeowners’ equity grew by more thanrn$815 billion, reaching its highest level since the first quarter ofrn2008. Despite the positive news, we have important work ahead sincernthere are so many families and individuals still ‘underwater’rnwith mortgage balances higher than their home’s value.”</p

Thernreport incorporates by reference the monthly report of the MakingrnHome Affordable Program (MHA), the administrations umbrellarnforeclosure prevention program. A number of programs operate underrnMHA including the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), thern2MP second lien modification program, Home Affordable ForeclosurernAlternatives (HAFA), and the Unemployment Program (UP). </p

Sincernthe last report which covered MHA activities through March 2013,rn16,703 new loan modification trials have started through HAMP. Thisrnbrings the cumulative total of trials initiated to 2.033 millionrnsince the program began in April 2009. Trials were converted tornpermanent status for 11,966 since the last report and there have nowrnbeen a total of 1.191 million permanent modifications implemented. Permanent modifications that remain active as of this date numberrn870,038 and there are 67,855 active trials. </p

Thern2MP program provides modifications and extinguishments of secondrnliens where there has been a HAMP modification on the same property. To date the program has initiated 110,722 second lien modificationsrnand has fully extinguished 27,804 junior liens of a median value ofrn$61,285 and partially extinguished 7,816. The median value of arnpartial extinguishment is $9,666. Since the last MHA report 1,409rnsecond lien modifications have been started.</p

HAFArnprovides options to homeowners who are willing to exit homeownershiprnbut wish to avoid foreclosure. It typically involves a short sale torna third party or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. The program hasrnprovided alternatives to 153,964 homeowners. GSE borrowersrnrepresented 42,489 of the interventions, 43,207 of which resulted inrnshort sales and 282 in deeds-in-lieu. Of the 114,475 non-GSErnmortgages resolved, 108,335 resulted in short sales and 3,140 inrndeeds-in-lieu. Since the last report a total of 13,530 cases havernbeen resolved through HAFA. </p

UPrnprovides temporary forbearance of mortgage principal to enablernunemployed borrowers to look for a new job without fear ofrnforeclosure. It has served 32,840 borrowers, 686 since the lastrnreport.</p<p align="LEFT"HAMPrnalso released its quarterly assessments of servicer performance. During the first quarter only four servicers, Bank of America, GMAC,rnOneWest Bank, and Select Portfolio Servicing, were found to needrnminor improvement in their performance under MHA guidelines. CitiMortgage, Ocwen Loan Servicing, Homeward Residential, JP MorganrnChase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank were found to need moderaternimprovement. No servicers fell into the category of needingrnsubstantial improvement. </p

Servicersrnare also effectively evaluating homeowners’ eligibility. The “secondrnlook disagree” category which reflects the rate at which thernTreasury Department’s review of case files conflicts with servicers’rndecisions not to assist the homeowner reflected only a 1 percent disagreement rate among top servicers.</p

“Wernhave kept the pressure on the mortgage industry to step up itsrnefforts, which has helped millions of families access relief in arnhistoric housing crisis,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary forrnFinancial Stability Tim Massad. “Making Home Affordable providesrnstandards and accountability for the mortgage industry that will nowrnhelp additional homeowners avoid foreclosure through 2015.”</p

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